FAQ: General Use

I just started typing and suddenly all my notes disappeared!

Notational Velocity combines the search and title fields, so while you type the title of a new note, NV is searching for notes that contain those words, and filtering out notes that don’t.
To see the full list, simply delete whatever is typed in the search/title field, or press ESC.
 

I just created a note, but now I want to create another one.

Just start typing a new title in the top field and press Return. (Don’t worry, the old note won’t be renamed.) You can also restore your search terms by pressing Command-D, to avoid re-typing them.
 

How can I change the title of a note once it’s already created?

Double-click its title in the list, or press Command-R.
 

How can I stop NV from quitting when I close the window?

Under Preferences > General, uncheck “Quit when closing window”.
 

How can I sort/view my notes by Date Modified?

From the View menu, select Sort By > Date Modified. You can add the Date Modified column by choosing Columns > Date Modified.
 

How do I get my notes to appear in Spotlight?

See Spotlight Integration.
 

How can I import my notes from Stickies?

See Importing Notes from External Sources.
 

How can I make the text larger?

Go to Preferences > General > List Text Size to change how the list of notes appears.

Go to Preferences > Fonts & Colors > Body Font to change text in the body-editor.
 

TextExpander and Typinator don’t seem to work in NV?

See TextExpander, Typinator, Etc.
 

Why is the first word of my highlighted search-terms light gray?

NV selects the first word of your highlighted search terms. If the body area is not active, then Mac OS X will use the inactive selection color, which is light gray. To more easily see the first highlighted word, press Tab to make the body area active.
 

Where are my notes, and how can I move them?

Notes are stored in your home directory under ~/Library/Application Support/Notational Data/. This folder can be moved using the Finder; see Moving/renaming the notes database. Note: On OS X 10.7 Lion and higher, the Library folder in your home folder is hidden by default. To open it:

1. Switch to Finder
2. Click the “Go” menu at the top of the screen
3. While holding down the Option key, select the “Library” item.
    

How can I hide and show the notes window using a keyboard shortcut?

Under Preferences > General > Bring-to-Front Hotkey:, click “Set”, and press your desired combination of keys.
To keep Notational Velocity running even after its window is closed, so that it can listen for your keystroke, uncheck “Quit when closing window” under Preferences > General.
 

How can I hide the table column headings (“Title”, “Date Created”, etc.) in the list of notes?

Under View > Columns, uncheck all columns other than Title (i.e., hide the Date and Tag columns). NV hides the column names automatically when the Title column is the only one visible.
 

How does inter-note linking work?

Read the Notational Velocity blog post about it.